When A Story Is More Than Just A Story

I am going to go out on a limb and say that I believe most debut authors see their first novel as their pride and joy. Why? Because it is their first finished published work, their first written bundle of joy and for those very reasons they are proud to show it off to the world. Any time any of us accomplish something that we deem as amazing or “grand” we want the whole world to know about it because we are thrilled about it! That is exactly how I feel about my debut novel Poka City Blues, but Poka City Blues is more than just a story to me. It is in some ways very personal to me and for that very reason I experienced a lot of pain and heartache as I was writing this story. Some of the things experienced by Sedelia, the main character in Poka City Blues, were some of the things my mother experienced and it brought back tearful memories, mental anguish and at times a little anger. People who know me on a personal level know that my mother is my biggest inspiration and one of the main sources of my motivation.

The soul of a writer can be deep, especially when their story stems from something personal and the emotions poured out into their story or stories can come across very raw. My mother has always told me that profound strength arises out of a great struggle, and I believe that saying to be very true. When you struggle and work hard, you build up endurance and the stronger you are as a person, the more capable you are at handling disappointments and adversities. That is what Poka City Blues is all about; standing tall in the face of trials while still being able to smile in the face of trials.